Programs

ATI Artist-in-Residency Program 2014-15

The Australia-Thailand Institute (ATI) is pleased to announce Mr James Batchelor and Ms Melanie Taylor as the recipients of the ATI’s annual Artist-in-Residency grant 2014-15.

The ATI’s Artist-in-Residency program supports innovative and creative initiatives with the aim of developing enduring ties between people and organisations in Thailand and Australia. The grant is open to practitioners of visual arts, literature and performing arts in both Australia and Thailand. In this grant round, successful applicants received a combined total of $20,000.

To support a performing arts partnership between Australia’s contemporary dance sector and the Bangkok Dance Academy, the ATI is funding James Batchelor’s residency in Thailand. Mr Batchelor aims to collaborate with artists at the Bangkok Dance Academy to empower young and emerging artists, and establish long-term cultural exchange opportunities. Mr Batchelor will work with young Thai artists to create a public dance performance that draws inspiration from the transforming urban environments in Australia and Thailand.

To help produce a multimedia community art project that engages communities in Chiang Mai Province, the ATI is supporting Australian artist Melanie Taylor and her collaborating partner, Melbourne-based artist Mr Rushdi Anwar. Ms Taylor and Mr Anwar will work with Baan Monfai Lanna Living Museum and Ne’Na Contemporary Artspace in Northern Thailand, to create an installation at Baan Monfai in February 2015. The installation, entitled ‘Wrapped in Culture’, will explore unique interpretations of Lanna culture through different media.

Discover Thailand Scholarships

During a visit to Australia by the then Thai Prime Minister’ in May 2012, the then Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, jointly announced with Her Excellency Yingluck Sinawatra the launch of the Discover Thailand Scholarships program.

Eleven $4,000 scholarships (administered through Universities Australia) were awarded to Australian university students to study in Thailand for a semester or more.

BRIDGE Thailand

The ATI funded an expansion of the Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement (BRIDGE) program to include Thai-Australia school partnerships. More information on the establishment of the BRIDGE Thailand program can be found at the Asia Education Foundation website.

In August 2014, Australia-Thailand Institute Board members were honoured to meet energetic and dedicated Australian and Thai teachers from a wide range of schools, locations and subject areas who had been partnered together through the BRIDGE program.

Next Generation Community Leaders Visit

Now in its ninth year, this annual program brings emerging Thai community leaders from differing faiths and regional areas to Australia to gain an understanding of the different ways in which multiculturalism is approached by the Australian Government and non-government organisations, and embraced by communities. The most recent visit to Sydney and Melbourne took place in May 2014. Seven emerging leaders from Thailand visited interfaith community groups, schools, cultural sites and local government. A highlight of the visit was visiting Parramatta West Public School in Sydney.